


Love Is A Sure Thing

by opallynch



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire, Angst with a Happy Ending, Betaed, Derek Hale is Bad at Feelings, Derek Needs To Use His Words, Knotting, Librarian Stiles, M/M, Misunderstandings, Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, bc it's what I like the most, suffering and fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-11-05 15:46:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11016528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opallynch/pseuds/opallynch
Summary: If Stiles was asked to say what the best thing about soulmates is, he would say certainty. Being sure about having someone to love and be loved in return. Having a person who is your missing half, the perfect match for you.The guy - his soulmate - jerks away from him and says what he was bound to say from the day he was born. “Get the fuck away from me.”-----Soulmates au where Stiles' mark sucks and Derek acts like he doesn't have any manners (like he was raised by wolves), but there is a happy ending, because this people are matched made in heaven.





	1. Stop

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So yeah, that happened. I love the idea of having a soulmate (tho I don't believe in it), so I decided to wrote an angsty ff.
> 
> I wanted to title it "This love is a sure thing", but my previous 2 works begin with "T" so I changed it.  
> Title comes from Sure Thing by Miguel (but not Derek's alter ego ;)) I'm not big fan of love songs, but this one is perfect, sooooo
> 
> ENJOY!!!

If Stiles was asked to say what the best thing about soulmates is, he would say certainty. Being sure about having someone to love and be loved in return. Having a person who is your missing half, the perfect match for you. It’s reassuring to know that someone is going to be with you not only for your looks or the size of your bank account, but just for you.

“A match made in heaven,” as his mom used to say about his dad, while looking with a small smile at her dear husband. Since he was a little kid, he wanted to have what his parents had, the warm and non-fading affection, and the admiration in their eyes when looked at each other. When other kids dreamt about being an astronaut or a princess, Stiles wished for a true love.

If you are to meet your soulmate before your 18th birthday, the first words addressed to you by them appear on your skin before your 7th ones. Those who still have no mark by their 18th birthday can be 100% sure they won’t come across “the one” any time before being of age.

Unlike Stiles, Scott got his when he was a child and met his soulmate few weeks after his 16th birthday. Stiles was delighted when he and his friend heard the words “Do you have a pen?” The same ones are written on Scott’s dick. And yes, they both know it’s not romantic to have your mark on your genitalia, but you don’t choose when it appears the same way you don’t decide on _where_ it appears.

Stiles used to joke that it would be funny if instead of “pen” it would be ‘penis’ written on Scott’s junk. One memorable night when both of them were drunk, Scott actually wrote the two missing letters with a sharpie. The best thing about it was the fact that he used a permanent marker, and it stayed on his dick for a full week, until he told his mom about it. Stiles never saw a person laughing so hard in his life, and that was because he hadn’t seen his own reaction when his best friend told him.

In 7 minutes Stiles is going to be finally considered an adult and the words will show up on his body. It’s not a hardship for him to stay up until midnight, he used to have trouble sleeping after his mom’s death because of the constant nightmares haunting him; now he often stays up till 3 am either to talk with Scott on skype or to do his homework after putting it off for whole day.

Even if he did want to get some sleep and wait to find out what his soulmate’s words (or one word, Stiles is okay with it!) are going to be, the anxiousness and his ADHD wouldn’t let him. He paces around his room and tries to not think about the metaphorical elephant in the room. He doesn’t do a good job at all.

Stiles being his usual pessimistic self can’t help but to think about all the ways that this can go wrong.

For example, what if the words will show up on his forehead? It’s a very rare occurrence but still some people have “Hey” or “Could you tell me where is the WC?” tattooed on their faces.

Or what if it’s somewhere safe, like on arm, but it’s something embarrassing like “You have cute little pert ass”. He was standing in a queue in his favourite coffee shop when a guy waiting behind him had whispered that in his ear. It was creepy, but also kinda flattering so Stiles said to him “don’t touch, just admire,” and the man backed off with a small chuckle.

The worst case scenario; he doesn’t get one. Everyone has a mark, it’s a simple rule, you are bound to meet your soulmate one way or another, but that doesn’t mean you are going to live happily ever after. Stiles heard stories about people who met their other half minutes before they died. He would prefer not to have a soulmate at all, rather than witness their death days or even seconds after they found each other. He lived with his mother for over 10 years of his life and when she died he couldn’t handle it, so he sure as hell isn’t ready to see someone who is supposed to be his perfect match die so soon.

A buzzing comes from the other side of the room. Stiles walks to his desk where his phone lies on a Scandinavian mythology book. He takes it in his hand and unlocks it. There is one unread message from Scott.

_dude, tell me what does it say_

Stiles checks the time only to see that it’s 0:03 am. He is strangely surprised his friend waited a whole three minutes to contact him; he would have given him two. He is also not surprised he missed midnight. Getting a mark is painless, but some people say that even when they are not looking they can subconsciously feel when it emerges. Psychologists say it’s because these people focus on it so much their mind start to play tricks on them.

The only time the mark makes you feel something physical is when you meet your soulmate. Most people say it’s like prickling sensation when your mate addresses you for the first time. It’s very helpful especially when the mark says “hi” or something equally common, he can’t imagine what it would be like to meet new people otherwise.

When Stiles asked Scott how it felt, his friend turned red and said in a sad tone “you can guess”. Stiles thought he would die laughing.

Scott wasn’t able to be here with Stiles because he has a very important test tomorrow and both the Sheriff and Melissa knew if the two of them stayed together Scott would get an F. Again. Stiles’ dad was supposed to be here, but there had been some kind of emergency at work and he had to go to the station, but not before he made Stiles promise to text him after midnight.

_wait man, I’m checking_

Stiles takes a deep breath and looks at his hands first, but there is nothing besides his beauty marks. The risk with it being on his forehead is getting higher. He takes his shirt off and when he looks down he’s greeted with dark ink decorating his skin above his heart. He can bet he smiles like an idiot right now. “Fuck yeah, not the forehead.” He fist pumps the air. If he were cliché he would say the placement is romantic, fortunately he isn’t.

Okay, maybe he is just a little bit romantic, you can’t blame a guy.

Stiles runs his finger over the place where the words are written. After all these years it’s finally here. He feels somehow at ease. He’s waited for his words all his life, he worried and anticipated, and now that moment finally came.

There is buzzing and another notification pops out on Stiles’ phone.

_tell me, tell me, tell me_

Stiles hovers a finger over the screen to replay, but he thinks better of it. He opens the camera app and takes a picture of his mark. It’s killing two birds with one stone; Scott gets an answer without unnecessary delay and Stiles will see exactly what his mark says.

He sends the picture to Scott without checking it out, and when he wants to open it his phone slides from his sweaty hands and falls to the (thank god) carpet. Stiles makes a quick move to pick it up, and clearly he moved too fast because before he knows what’s happening, he lands on the floor (inches from where the carpet is) face down next to his phone.

“Shitballs.” Stiles hisses through his teeth. It’s a miracle that he didn’t knock his teeth out, he can bet although he isn’t missing any teeth, he is still going to have bruises. Probably on his forehead where it hurts the most. He doesn’t know how long he lies on the floor contemplating his life, the mark totally forgotten.

There is a buzzing sound next to Stiles. He is probably as fast as Flash when he grabs the phone to check the text he got and the goddamn picture.

_i’m so sorry, dude, i bet it’s not what it appears to be_

What. Oh, man, is his mark “I like to watch little children playing on the beach” kind of thing?

Not able to wait any longer, Stiles checks the picture to find out what Scott is referring to. When he sees the six words written on his skin he freezes. The feelings come like a wave. First comes sadness, fat tears falling from his eyes, his breath catches and Stiles does everything he can to keep the panic attack from happening. “Why me” is the main question he asks himself.

Then he gets angry, the strong feeling of wrongness and “I don’t deserve this shit” vibe. He screams and gets up from the floor just to go to his bookcase and dump the books from the shelf. It doesn’t help much. The last one is numbness. He sits on his bed, stares at the wall. Phone still clutched in his hand, he types a quick text to Scott;

_shit happens_

And one to his dad;

_I’m alive and marked._

Stiles silences his phone, not in a mood to text with his father or best friend and drops it on the carpet. He throws himself on the pillows and closes his eyes, not even bothering to change his clothes. The words _“Get the fuck away from me”_ lull him to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, here's the next chapter I hope you'll enjoy it!

Stiles rushes to the main doors of the library. He’s only a few minutes late, so he supposes it’s not a big deal, but he still doesn’t want Margaret, his awesome co-worker, to be in work longer than she must be. He also remembers her saying that she has a lot to do that particular day.

Stiles had gone to the station to give to his dad a lunch that wouldn’t consist of massive amounts of grease, unhealthy preservatives, and other things that will cause heart disease in a very near future. Stiles wouldn’t be late if he hadn’t heard his dad mutter, “I’m not going to eat that,” under his breath. He hadn’t had any other choice but to stay and make sure his dad wouldn’t replace his veggie burger with some McDonald’s crap.

Stiles passes between tables and students who are trying to get as much as they can from a last minute cramming session. At the last turn he loses his footing and hits one of the occupied tables with his hip, resulting in few books falling. Stiles realises what he had done after few steps and turns to help with replacing them back on the table. He looks up to see a girl with beautiful curly hair who must be still in high school, probably a senior. “I didn’t mean to disrespect such an outstanding book as…” he takes a minute to look at the cover to find out what she is studying. “Half Bad” by Sally Green? It’s not exactly what Ms. Blake assigned us as compulsory reading.” 

The girl quietly laughs. “No, Ms. Blake is too much of a bitch to do something like that.”

Stiles grins. It looks like his old English literature teacher hasn’t changed much since his school years. “Yeah, that old hag is not able to be nice to anyone, is she?” 

“You know her?” The girl’s cheeks and ears turn pink from embarrassment. She probably thinks he is going to tell Ms. Blake what her students think of her.

“She was my teacher in high school. I remember that not only did the students hate her, but also every other teacher in school.” At that she laughs again, more cheerily and freely than before.

“I’m just here as a moral support.” She gestures with her slim hand at the girl with headphones and bright yellow marker sitting next to her.

“Stiles.” Margaret’s dissatisfied tone makes him cringe. She is sweet and easy going, but when angry she is the most terrifying person he knows. To save his life, he waves at the girl and runs towards his colleague.

“Sorry, sorry” Stiles breathes out when he finally gets to librarian’s desk. Margaret only smiles at him, clearly calm and happy he listened to her without any back talk. After working a year and a half at the Beacon Hills Public Library all of his co-workers know how easily he gets distracted from a task.

“It’s okay, Stiles. How’s your dad?” Margaret asks while packing up her laptop and a book in her big black bag. She is Deputy Nolan’s daughter, which makes her Stiles’ honorary cousin. Margaret is few years older than he, and she used to babysit him. They’ve never been very close. She is more of a down to earth person, while Stiles is a dreamer and a troublemaker. It doesn’t mean that they fought often, on the contrary; they’d never argue, they just never seem to understand each other.

“Scared as hell. It’s not every day that you marry very beautiful and intelligent nurse.” When Stiles heard the news that his dad and Melissa finally decided to make their relationship official he couldn’t contain his happiness. He and Scott were so hyped up that they would no longer have to explain to everyone why they call each other brother that they got drunk and collected discarded beer cans to attach to his dad’s cruiser. 

Margaret grins. “I bet he is. Uncle John took his time to propose to Melissa, but I’m happy he eventually did it.” She put her bag over her shoulders and jiggles the keys in her right hand. “Okay, I have to go, I have a pantsuit to pick up from a tailor’s shop.” 

“Ohh, a pantsuit, fancy.”

“See you at the wedding, Stiles.” Margaret waves at him with the hand she has her keys in. 

“Till Saturday, Peggy.” Stiles calls in an overly sweet voice. He knows she hates that nickname, but the way she shudders at hearing it makes him feel like he accomplished something. He glances at people in the library. There is nothing exciting going on right now, so he doesn’t have to worry. At this hour, there are only a few students who think that a last minute study is going to do them any good, a father with children, and Ben. Ben is almost always there. He used to work here as a librarian, but retired. Now he has appointed himself a sort of “keeper of the books”. Every time he sees a kid with an open coke can he reprimands the unaware person, explaining that books are made of paper, and that paper and liquids don’t get along.

Stiles get out his own laptop (he hates how slow the library computer works), a Tupperware container with lunch, and phone. “Till Saturday,” he mutters and unlocks his phone to call the electrician to check if he fixed the broken light in the Gardening section.

 

Although Stiles is in charge of The Gold Rush collection he has to monitor every nook of the library. It’s not a hardship for him at all, he likes to wander through shelves and sections he normally wouldn’t look through.

Stile is also good at recommending books. All he needs are few answers for book related (or not) questions and you’re guaranteed to leave BHPL with book that will change your life, or at least one that’s going to become a favorite.

Mostly he loves to chat with the readers hanging out in the library. Thanks to those chit-chats Stiles has discovered many entertaining books and met new friends. He is certain that if he wasn’t the one to start a conversation about pros and cons of kickboxing few weeks ago, he wouldn’t now be book buds  _ “call me like that one more time, Stilinski and I’m going to kick your ass”  _ with Cora Hale. 

His father and Cora’s mother, Talia Hale, are good colleagues from work. Mrs. Hale is one of the best lawyers in Northern California and most of her clients are the richest of the rich, but she still helps the least fortunate when she can. That’s why Sheriff Stilinski holds her in such high regard. She also helped with renting the reception hall when Melissa and his dad had problems doing so. That’s why she and her whole family are invited for Stilinski/McCall wedding. Stiles himself was a little surprised because he has never met any other Hale except Talia, and recently Cora. Stiles doesn’t know the former very well, they’ve met few times but never held longer conversation, but he can pinpoint the differences between Mrs. Hale and her youngest daughter without any difficulty.

At first Cora was a sarcastic asshole who, on daily basis, liked to threaten Stiles with bodily harm. Now she is just the same but with additional sniffing, and off-topic remarks like, “I don’t feel the appeal,” or, “I can’t believe you smell like puppies and rainbow for him”. Those are always said under her breath after sniffing him, like they aren’t directed at him, just Cora talking to herself.  The last time she said, “Yup, it’s definitely you.”

Stiles looked at her like she was crazy. “And who should I be? I know this shirt may throw you off, because it looks like a new one, but I just washed it.” He sent her a cocky grin. 

Cora looked at him like he did to her earlier, and said, “He is going to eat you alive,” with a predatory smile that gave Stiles the creeps. He shuddered.

“Threats? Again, Cora?” She shrugged. God, she was weird.

They always see each other on Wednesday on his lunch break. They talk or just read in each other’s company. Even though they are going to see each other at his dad’s wedding, she sent him a text yesterday saying  _ ‘tmr still stands, loser’ _ . That’s why when he’s rounding the corner where Cora usually waits for him with an already picked out book, he is surprised to see a tall, handsome man instead. For a second he worries this man could hurt Cora, but then he remembers how tough she is.

The stranger looks at the shelf of books like the sight hurts him, and he wants to destroy them with his laser eyes. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, fists once pliant along his sides, become closed and rigid. Stiles can hear him muttering something that sounds like “it’s true,” and the stranger slowly opens his eyes and turns to face him. Stiles notes his beautiful green eyes and immediately wants to get lost in them. Stiles can’t help but notice how nicely the man in front of him fills out his maroon Henley and tight black jeans. The silence between them draws too long for comfort, so he decides to be the first to speak up.

“You seem like someone who got overwhelmed by the power of literature.” The man looks like Stiles just slapped him. Stiles looks at the man’s magnificent mouth, open in astonishment, and idly wonders if everything about the man before him is equally magnificent. 

While still looking he takes few steps towards the gorgeous specimen. He doesn’t seem to register what he’s doing until the guy’s face is only a few inches away. Stiles feels like he’s in some kind of trance, with butterflies in his stomach and a tingling all over his body. He takes a deep breath and unconsciously reaches to touch the man’s arm. The second his fingers graze the stranger’s skin he knows. He knows he stands before the person he’s meant to be with. Stiles feels ecstatic, he’s finally found his soulmate, the love of his life. It takes less than 5 seconds for a sudden realization to strike. The person before him hates him, and doesn’t want to be around him, without even knowing him.

The guy - _ his soulmate _ \- jerks away from him and says what he was bound to say from the day he was born. _ “Get the fuck away from me.” _ He growls and runs, bodily checking his arm. Stiles doesn’t know if the hit was so strong or if it’s the power of the words that make him fall against the table between the two bookcases where he normally sits with Cora.

Stiles has many times imagined this particular situation. Sometimes he would get hit for even uttering the words to his soulmate, taking on himself the fault  for the universe bringing them together. Other times he would pray for the words to be a mistake; with Stiles’ lack of ability to walk straight and watch his feet, he would bump into his soulmate, who’d hold in their hand a cup of coffee. As the result of the spilled drink and ruined clothes, his soulmate’s words would be uttered in anger, that would quickly turn to happiness when, with Stiles’ apologetic words, his soulmate would realize he had met the right person for him, and they would live happily ever after. 

Now he’s leaning against the table of an almost deserted library and feels numb. He doesn’t cry, he doesn’t scream, he just gapes at the bookcase his soul- _ stranger  _ looked at before, and sees that amongst books of English Renaissance there is a Winnie-the-Pooh new edition between Richard II and Richard III by Shakespeare. He sighs and walks to the shelf to move the book to its proper place. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember, kudos and comments are like magic dust!
> 
> You can find me on [tumblr](http://xlightwoodxstiles.tumblr.com/) where I'm taking prompts now.
> 
> Say hello to me or tell me how your day went (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
> 
> Person who deserves the longest hug in history is [Katy, my wonderful beta! Although she has a lot of stuff going on right now, she was able to find time to edit it!! xoxo](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Blinc43/pseuds/Blinc43)

**Author's Note:**

> If you ever wondered "what about people who can't speak or hear?" That's why soulmates get this tingling sensation, so they know they found each other no matter why :) 
> 
> Next chapter should be posted in two weeks, but it's not a sure thing ;), because I have many unfinished projects like my first ff or the ones I started writing in the middle of the night (and almost overslept bc of writing till 3 am on a school night), I'm making some moodboards (which you can check out on my tumblr) and some school stuff.
> 
> Remember, kudos are kisses!
> 
> You can find me on [tumblr](http://xlightwoodxstiles.tumblr.com/) where I'm taking prompts now.
> 
> Say hello to me or tell me how your day went (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
> 
> Person who deserves the longest hug in history is [Katy, my wonderful beta!](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Blinc43/pseuds/Blinc43)


End file.
